Labour market continues to improve

More people are working and unemployment has fallen
to 5.6 percent according to the latest figures from
Statistics New Zealand.

“We continue to see more people
move into employment and although the participation rate has
dropped from a peak last quarter, it is still at an
historically high level,” labour market and households
statistics manager Diane Ramsay said. "The unemployment rate
fell from a revised 5.9 percent to 5.6 percent and is the
lowest it has been since the March 2009
quarter."

Annually, the number of people employed rose 3.7
percent in the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS).
Employment growth in Canterbury accounted for almost half of
the total national employment growth over the year. In the
Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), demand for workers from
established businesses rose 2.3 percent.

Our labour market indicators
include the HLFS, QES, and LCI. The HLFS is a broad measure
of labour market activity by individuals, while the QES
measures demand by established firms for paid work and
hourly earnings. The LCI is a measure of wage inflation.

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